Hilltop reforestation commences

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

The Environment Ministry has launched a hilltop reforestation program especially in the Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, Kandy and Badulla districts. Initiating the new conservation program a special event was held in the Hunnasgiriya hills in Kandy last week with the participation of Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

According to the Conservator General of Forests H.M. Hitisekara the 2012 program plans to plant trees in 425 hectares of hilltops and in 2011 the Forest Conservation Department has targeted 343 hectares.

As a result of deforestation the hilltop forest cover was receding and a need to regenerate it in order to arrest soil erosion became important.

Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa during the 2011 UN General Assembly pointed out to the rest of the world the special attention Sri Lanka has paid to reforestation.